“GAVE HIS ONLY SON!”

John 3:16-18                                 (ESV)

“16 "For GOD so loved the world, that HE “GAVE HIS ONLY SON”, that whoever believes in HIM should not perish but have eternal life.

17 For GOD did not send his SON into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through HIM.

18 Whoever believes in HIM is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the NAME of the only SON of GOD.”

“Nobody knows the pain of rejection like JESUS”. 

This sign was seen recently in front of a church, but it should be emblazoned on each of our minds as we live our lives.  

JESUS left the splendor around the Throne of GOD in Heaven to come to earth as a poor, humble servant child!   Isaiah 53:3 (written around 700 B.C,) says the CHRIST would be “despised and rejected” by man, and I think JESUS qualified based on the week before and during HIS crucifixion.  The ONE WHO spoke “this world” into existence (Colossians 1:15-17) was mocked and rejected by those thinking they knew best?!?!  It wasn’t Pontius Pilate that had JESUS crucified, it was the HIS own people, the JEWS, who cried “Crucify HIM”!  

But are we any better than the JEWS, or Pontius Pilate?  When we observe JESUS living through someone’s life, do we mock and reject them?  Or worse, do we “hide HIM under a bushel”?  Why is it that we are afraid or ashamed to boldly speak HIS Name in public, like HE is a piranha?  Don’t we know the CREATOR of the universes wants to abide in us, and we are shy about being seen in public with HIM?  

GOD “GAVE HIS ONLY SON” to provide a sacrifice for me to abide with HIM Glory!  JESUS said in Mark 8:38 “For whoever is ashamed of ME and of MY words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the SON of MAN also be ashamed when HE comes in the glory of his FATHER with the holy angels."  HIS Name will proudly be shared by these lips as GOD “GAVE HIS ONLY SON” for me! 

“ALL SCRIPTURE!”

2 Timothy 3:14-17                        (ESV)

“14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it

15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in CHRIST JESUS.

16 “ALL SCRIPTURE” is breathed out by GOD and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

17 that the man of GOD may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Not being the smartest man in the world I sometimes have to be taken to the woodshed AGAIN to refresh myself of a lesson that I should have learned many times over during my youth.  GOD is so long suffering and patient with me, it amazes me how HE can still love someone so dense!  Why do I continually search for answers anywhere besides HIS WORD.  Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, even devotionals written by man are no comparison to the HOLY SPIRIT leading me to GOD’s WORD to solve a problem I am facing?!?

“ALL SCRIPTURE” is breathed out by our Creator!  The ONE who formed us gave us a guide to lead us on our journey through “this world”, yet we want to try ANYTHING but HIS WORD when looking for an answer?  We can’t read “a verse a day” and expect to avoid trouble either!  As a matter of fact, in 2 Corinthians 12 GOD tells Apostle Paul “MY grace is sufficient for you, for MY power is made perfect in weakness."  We display HIM most when we allow HIM to deliver us from our weaknesses.   Everyone needs a Savior, but none more than me!  We can wear the finest clothes on Sunday’s to look as though we are clean and well groomed, but Scripture says in 1 Samuel 16:7 “GOD sees the heart”!  

It would behoove me learn that “ALL SCRIPTURE” is where I should begin looking when walking through this world!  When we are driving to a place and we don’t know how to get where we are going, we typically need a roadmap.  Our roadmap, given to us by our CREATOR, is in “ALL SCRIPTURE”!  It has everything I need to make me “complete, equipped for every good work.”  

“MUST BELIEVE!”

Hebrews 11:6                                (ESV)

“And without FAITH it is impossible to please HIM, for whoever would draw near to GOD “MUST BELIEVE” that HE exists and that HE rewards those who seek HIM.”

Since “without FAITH it is impossible to please HIM”, and we seem to be forever trying to prove how much we can do on our own, why is it that we find it so easy to believe that being blessed with things of “this world” is evidence that GOD is pleased with our lives?  Sure, GOD says King David was a man after GOD’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14) and David wrote Psalms 24:1 which says “The earth is the LORD's AND THE FULLNESS THEREOF, the world and those who dwell therein”, GOD still had to judge the sin in the life of David when he tried to circumvent GOD’s Sovereignty by lying with Bathsheba and then killing her husband in an attempt to cover the sin up!  

If we (mainly I) really BELIEVED that “HE (GOD) exists and that HE rewards those who seek HIM”, why do I continue to violate HIS Word by doing what pleases us instead of pleasing GOD?  If HE rewards sin with Judgement (Galatians 6:7), why do I sometimes CHOOSE to bring Judgement upon my life?   The Apostle Paul says in Romans 7:15-25 that he did what he hated!  But why???  It must be in verse 23 where he wrote “but I see in my members another law WAGING WAR against the LAW OF MY MIND and MAKING ME CAPTIVE TO THE LAW OF SIN that dwells in my members.”

The unbelievable physical price that was paid for my sin on the cross was devastatingly gruesome!  But the Spiritual price was SO GREAT that even the sun refused to shine when HE was on the cross (Luke 23:44-45)!  When the Light of the World (John 8:12) was removed, only darkness remained!!!  GOD has demonstrated throughout Scripture that HE cannot abide sin, yet we (our sin nature) continues trying to prove our plan will be “good enough”!  We “MUST BELIEVE” that HE IS, and HE will be GOD, no matter what the enemy battles our minds with!  

“LORD, I HAVE HEARD!”

Acts 9:1-2; 13-18                                     (ESV)

“1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the LORD, went to the high priest

2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

....

“13 But Ananias answered, "”LORD, I HAVE HEARD” from many about this man, how much evil he has done to YOUR saints at Jerusalem.

14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on YOUR name."

15 But the LORD said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of MINE to carry MY name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of MY name."

17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the LORD JESUS who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the HOLY SPIRIT."

18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;”

“They are too far gone for GOD to use them”!  How many times have we even just thought that about someone?  They seemingly have no identifiable traits that would suggest they are useable for the Kingdom, so IN OUR EYES we exclude them from ever being used in GOD’s Plan.  

Ananias was a devout follower of JESUS CHRIST who was asked to get outside of his “comfort zone”.   Saul was notorious during this time frame for persecuting the church of JESUS CHRIST.   Now JESUS was asking Ananias to go help Saul/Paul so he could regain his sight.  Why would ALMIGHTY GOD enable a persecutor of the church to be healed from the ailment that GOD had sent to get his attention?  Could it be that GOD wanted to show Ananias (AND ME) that when HE changes someone’s heart, HE can do it so radically that the person’s entire lifestyle is changed FOR HIS GLORY?!?  

Paul is considered by some to be one of the most dedicated Believers to have ever lived.  But his testimony prior to the Damascus road experience was one of fear and destruction.  Acts 9:1 says “....But Saul, still breathing THREATS and MURDER against the disciples of the LORD...”!  He had the establishment “church”, the “in crowd” if you will, supporting him in his efforts to silence a movement called The Way, and ultimately the Message of GOD!   But ALMIGHTY GOD isn’t constrained by what man thinks or plans!  

When will I stop trying to place my GOD into what man accepts as being possible?  JESUS said in Matthew 19:26 “....With man this is impossible, but with GOD all things are possible."  GOD has demonstrated FIRST HAND to me that HE delights in impossibilities!  Sometimes I believe HE lets things become SO HOPELESS that man believes there is no hope!  But HE can change a man’s heart, HE can move the Red Sea, HE can make the sun stand still, and HE can heal a brain hemorrhage! May my response be “LORD, I HAVE HEARD” from YOU and not be blinded by what “this world” says my GOD can do!!!

“BROKEN!”

Jeremiah 48:35-47                      (ESV)

“35 And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the LORD, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god.

36 Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished.

37 "For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth.

38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have “BROKEN”Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the LORD.

39 How it is “BROKEN”! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him."

40 For thus says the LORD: "Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab; 

41 the cities shall be taken and the strongholds seized. The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains; 

42 Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people, because he magnified himself against the LORD. 

43 Terror, pit, and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab! declares the LORD. 

44 He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For I will bring these things upon Moab, the year of their punishment, declares the LORD. 

45 "In the shadow of Heshbon fugitives stop without strength, for fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the house of Sihon; it has destroyed the forehead of Moab, the crown of the sons of tumult. 

46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters into captivity. 

47 Yet I WILL RESTORE THE FORTUNES OF MOAB IN THE LATTER DAYS, declares the LORD." Thus far is the judgment on Moab.”

BROKEN!  I am sometimes guilty of discarding something once it is “BROKEN”!  My wife, on the other hand, is someone who almost never gives up on something that is “BROKEN”, she always SEE something good that it can be used for when it is fixed!  Recently she and I had the opportunity to witness the movie “I can only imagine”.  The lead character of the movie had a terrible childhood due to his father making some horrible choices, and he and his mom had to deal with the outcome of those choices.  He ultimately had to be “BROKEN” by the LORD to SEE what GOD had Planned for his future.  

We all have to play the hand we are dealt.  My father was non-existent from when I was four years old, and I was affected by that for most of my life.  But at least I wasn’t subjected to the physical abuse that is evident in a lot of circumstances.  Although I desires a dad around when I was growing up, in my older years GOD has shown me that there is something worse than not having a dad, like having an abusive dad!  

In the passage of scripture above, GOD tells us that Moab “shall be destroyed and be no longer a people” simply “because he magnified himself against the LORD”.  But then in the end, GOD says “I WILL RESTORE THE FORTUNES OF MOAB IN THE LATTER DAYS, declares the LORD."  

Hebrews 10:31 says “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living GOD.”  The Moabites were made to realize this verse, and rather distinctly!  We need to live our lives in a “BROKEN” state so that ALMIGHTY GOD doesn’t have to break us.  Experience has shown me that HE is able to humble us in dramatic fashion.  Psalms 51:17 says “The sacrifices of GOD are a “BROKEN” spirit; a “BROKEN” and contrite heart, O GOD, YOU will not despise.”  Maybe it’s because HE wants to fix us for HIS Glory?!?!?

“BE SILENT!”

Exodus 14:14                                 (ESV)

“The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to “BE SILENT”." 

It is getting difficult to keep up with the number of times that GOD uses this particular verse to guide and direct my life.  To me, there is amazement that GOD uses the same scripture to speak to a wretched man who HE has scraped from the bottom of humanity, yet because of HIS amazing grace, HE speaks to me!!!

When we SLOW DOWN and really consider HIS mercy and goodness, we have to SEE that the same SPIRIT that spoke these worlds into existence is the SAME SPIRIT WHO desires to fight our battles for us!  And my biggest problem is that I cannot “BE SILENT” long enough to allow HIM TO BE GOD!  It seems I always have to offer up my opinion of how I think things should be going, instead of listening to HIM guiding and directing me?!?

When we boil it down to the basics, I’m really not placing my FAITH in GOD if I don’t allow HIM to LEAD me!  I am supposed to be a follower of CHRIST, but my actions don’t reflect that as much as they should.  If HE is LEADING me where I  prefer not to go, does that make it okay for me to yield to my desire?  When JESUS was headed to Calvary HE prayed in Luke 22:42-43 “FATHER, if YOU are willing, remove this cup from ME. Nevertheless, not MY will, but YOURS, be done."  And there appeared to HIM an angel from heaven, strengthening HIM.”

Is my FAITH strong enough to trust that GOD will send an angel from heaven to strengthen me?  Sure, JESUS had to endure the cross, but HE overcame death, hell, and the grave also!  Working to overcome my will so I can let HIS WILL be done is my desire.   The first step for me is to “BE SILENT” and let HIM direct my life!!!

“THE LORD KNOWS!”

1 Corinthians 3:18-20                   (ESV)

“18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with GOD. For it is written, "HE catches the wise in their craftiness,"

20 and again, "THE LORD KNOWS” the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." 

Simply reading scriptures without absorbing them AND LETTING THEM CHANGE YOUR LIFE can be an extremely dangerous thing to do.   A stark example of this is in the passage of scripture above.  GODLY Wisdom is a trait that King Solomon requested, and was granted, in order to properly govern GOD’s chosen people (2 Chronicles 1:11-12).  In James 1:5 scripture records “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask GOD, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

So how can we assure ourselves that we are being granted GODLY Wisdom and not getting what I am calling “counterfeit wisdom”, what scripture states is “wisdom of this world”?  All of the schooling and formal education will not prepare one for the trials and tribulations that life is certain to bring us.  ALMIGHTY GOD is able to enlighten one of HIS children to understand something that man would never have “SEEN” within his knowledge!  And it is usually the “uneducated” that HE operates through, maybe because the “uneducated” can’t share HIS Glory with another (Isaiah 42:8).  

Several places in scripture it states that “GOD opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”!  That seems to be the antithesis to “HE catches “the wise” in their craftiness,"?  The wisdom of this world and GODLY Wisdom can be referred to as counterfeit and authentic.  Wisdom of this world is counterfeit, causing problems wherever it is entrusted.  GODLY Wisdom can be relied upon, ESPECIALLY when FAITH has been exercised to Believe in it.  

But how can we make sure we are not filling ourselves with wisdom of this world?    A good place to start would be “GOD opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”!  If we relish in the wisdom we are experiencing, there is a tremendous chance that ALMIGHTY GOD isn’t being glorified?!?  For certain, “THE LORD KNOWS” who is getting glory for words or deeds.  In reality, we probably do as well.  It is my desire to let any praise people “think” I deserve be shed upon HIM, as “THE LORD KNOWS” my heart and HE deserves it!!!